NOAA's uncertain future brings tsunami of worry for wildlife, ocean

When the Palisades fire raged and winds whipped ash and debris into the Pacific Ocean, scientists with the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration — already out in boats doing water-quality surveys — quickly gathered tainted saltwater samples, knowing the data would be vital to understand the impacts the wildfires would have on the ocean.

When word spreads on the water that a whale or sea creature is entangled in heavy fishing gear and in danger of dying, NOAA response teams quickly assemble in a race to save its life.

And, as catastrophic storms and wild weather bring threats from snow, rain, big swells, mudslides, hurricanes and fire, National Weather Service meteorologists give early warnings so people can stay clear of harm’s way.

A tidal wave of concerns have been raised in recent days as word of large-scale layoffs at NOAA — and its sister weather service branch — have environmentalists and communities worried about impacts locally and across the country.

Layoffs are estimated to be up to 20% of NOAA’s workforce, according to reporting by various news outlets. The cuts are part of efforts by the Trump administration’s new Department of Government Efficiency, tasked with wrangling in an expansive federal government, which in recent weeks has meant offering bureaucrats severance packages to leave and cutting positions at various federal agencies.

President Thomas Jefferson in 1807 founded the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey to provide nautical charts to the maritime community for safe passage into American ports and coastline. The Weather Bureau followed in 1870, and a year later, the U.S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries was founded.

The groups would be America’s first physical science agency, the first dedicated to the atmospheric sciences and the country’s first conservation agency. In 1970, the three agencies were brought together as NOAA, an agency within the Department of Commerce.

“Our reach goes from the surface of the sun to the depths of the ocean floor as we work to keep the public informed of the changing environment around them,” its website reads. “From daily weather forecasts, severe storm warnings and climate monitoring to fisheries management, coastal restoration and supporting marine commerce, NOAA’s products and services support economic vitality and affect more than one-third of America’s gross domestic product.”

Much of the agency’s work in Southern California revolves around the ocean — everything from keeping marine wildlife safe from extinction to studying the health of the ocean to warning beachgoers of big waves.

Its staffers are a critical piece of an integral puzzle of researchers who determine the health of fisheries and study whether regulations should be put in place to ensure there’s enough left for future generations, said Ken Franke, president of the Sportfishing Association of California, a nonprofit based out of San Diego that represents most commercial passenger fishing fleets from there to Santa Barbara.

Commercial passenger fishing crews have been trained to collect data and do stock assessments for NOAA, Franke said. The data and samples shared for federally managed fish include tuna and rockfish, information used to determine bag limits that help those species from being overfished.

“We’re just anxious looking at what it is that could potentially be impacted,” he said. “And the moment we see something that is impacted, we will be quick to make sure our congressional offices are made aware.”

The economic engine in California powered by the ocean is “massive,” Franke said, touching trade, food and tourism.

“There’s a long list of people and entities that are connected, economically, to the activity related to recreational fishing. It’s not just about a couple of fish — it’s about a pretty massive economic impact,” he said. “And the key to the whole thing is data.”

Franke is just back from Washington, D.C., where he visited legislative decision-makers to discuss the importance of data collection.

“It’s a process, but it’s intended to protect and sustain resources, so they are there to use in years to come,” Franke said. “We’re doing it really well, we just want to make sure we keep it going.”

NOAA Fisheries has jurisdiction over 165 endangered and threatened species, including blue whales, Oceanic whitetip sharks, Chinook salmon, green sea turtles and several species of corals.

It’s why the Center for Biological Diversity is requesting more information from the federal government about the employment cuts, and which departments will be impacted.

“If we don’t stand up for science and biodiversity, we stand to lose clean water, whales and corals, hurricane protection and fisheries,” said Miyoko Sakashita, oceans director at the center. “Oceans make up most of our planet and their ecosystems are vital for supporting life on Earth. We’ve barely begun to even learn about these precious marine species, and once they’re gone we can’t get them back.”

Alisa Schulman-Janiger, director and coordinator of the American Cetacean Society’s Gray Whale Census and Behavior Project on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, talked about its ongoing collaboration with NOAA to document population trends, migration timing and calf production to determine the health of the whale species.

Data compiled by NOAA Fisheries, the ACS/LA Census, and others led the federal agency to declare an “unusual mortality event” in 2019, when many gray whales were skinny and washing ashore dead in the hundreds along the West Coast. The designation allowed further funding and research to figure out why they were dying in mass.

NOAA Fisheries also spearheads the Large Whale Entanglement Response Network, tracking whales that need help out at sea, as well as the West Coast Marine Mammal Stranding Network.

Along the West Coast, there were 34 whales confirmed entangled in fishing gear in 2024, the highest number since 2018, according to NOAA Fisheries.

Crab pots are the most common form of fishing gear associated with whale entanglements, and NOAA has been working with the Dungeness crab industry to find ways to reduce entanglements, collecting data and identifying entangling gear.

Several years ago, Schulman-Janiger was on a boat in Monterey Bay when she said she spotted floats from fishing gear trailing behind a humpback whale. She contacted the NOAA response team, who rushed out with their boats to try and cut the whale loose. Though it took several weeks due to weather and the whale’s movements, the efforts were successful.

That’s a scenario that plays out up and down the coast, several times a year, when boat captains encounter a whale wrapped in fishing gear. In July, NOAA-led rescue teams spent six days trying to help a humpback first spotted off Palos Verdes, and later off Orange County, eventually freeing the massive mammal from the line wrapped around its tail.

“Being hit by ships or entangled, those are things caused by humans and warrant intervention. If it’s entangled, there may be a possibility to respond, to cut down the possibility of the whale dying,” Schulman-Janiger said. “So (they) directly save lives.”

NOAA Fisheries focuses on the nation’s ocean resources and their habitat, using “sound science and an ecosystem-based approach to management,” its website says, ensuring “productive and sustainable fisheries, safe sources of seafood, recovery and conservation of protected resources and a healthy ecosystem.”

It’s also important to have federal regulators who assess the quality of seafood and test for toxins, Schulman-Janiger noted. “I don’t want to eat something that is full of fire retardants.”

That was why a crew aboard a NOAA research vessel knew it was important to grab samples as they saw ash falling from the sky like snowflakes on the ocean’s surface when the Palisades fire erupted. The effort was described on a NOAA podcast last month by Noelle Bowlin, project lead for NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center.

“Maybe it helps with remediation crews understanding what pollutants are in the air versus what makes it to the water, how far away it gets from the epicenter of the fires,” she said in the podcast. “Let’s collect this information, reach out to other experts in wildfire science and toxicology, and see what we can do to help with the efforts to understand what happened and how to remediate.”

While NOAA cannot discuss internal personnel and management matters, the agency “remains dedicated to its mission, providing timely information, research, and resources that serve the American public and ensure our nation’s environmental and economic resilience,” an agency spokesperson said in an email.

Supporters of DOGE, or Trump’s efforts to restructure the federal government, say looking at the federal bureaucracy is part of a much-needed effort to curtail government spending or waste and fraud. The president has directed agencies to prepare for more potential trimming of their workforce.

Among the recent cuts are the dismantling of the Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee, a federal committee that advises the secretary of commerce and NOAA on marine resource issues.

Dana Wharf Sportsfishing and Whale Watching manager Donna Kalez, who had submitted an application to serve another term on the committee, said she wasn’t completely surprised at the news that it was cut, saying Trump had tried to dissolve it during his first term in office as well, when she was a committee member.

“I think there’s concern from the fishing community,” she said. “It’s totally disappointing. Hopefully, they will need advice in the future and they will bring it back. We’re waiting to see. Every day is a new day.”

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